Best Sports Weekend: WWE in Australia for Super Show-Down

WWE has its reasons for bringing a card to Australia headlined by a match between two wrestlers who are a combined 102 years old.

Early Saturday morning, WWE is presenting Super Show-Down, a pay-per-view event that wasn’t announced until this summer. For American fans, it’s going to feel like it’s on the wrong day and time (that’d be 4:00 a.m. ET, and that’s not a typo) with an Undertaker vs. Triple H main event that feels like it’s from the wrong year.

There’s a very simple explanation for all of this: The show isn’t really for us here in the U.S.

(On the other hand, if anyone can give a reason for the hyphen in ‘Show-Down,’ please make yourself known.)

WWE Super Show-Down is set to take over the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, which should be one of the more impressive venues for a PPV card since at least WrestleMania since its listed capacity is just a tick over 100,000 fans. The similarities to the biggest show on the WWE’s annual schedule end there, however, because while every WrestleMania has its share of former superstars making appearances, there’s no chance Vince McMahon and company would put two guys in the twilight of their careers on last.

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It’s not just the Undertaker (now 53, if you can believe it) and Triple H (only 49, but semi-retired from in-ring action since he’s the company’s IRL COO) who are relics from a bygone era in sports entertainment. The Dead Man will be cornered by his “brother,” Kane, last seen winning a mayoral election and only a part-time performer these days, while The Game is accompanied to the ring by Shawn Michaels, who hung up his wrestling tights back in 2010.

On top of that, the card will also feature John Cena, who’s getting up there in years himself and hasn’t wrestled at a WWE event in months. It’s a full-on dose of nostalgia, and if the show was being held here in the U.S., fans would roll their eyes at it just a bit.

That’s not to say that there won’t be plenty of top notch current talent at WWE Super Show-Down, because with the exception of Braun Strowman, all of the main event players from both Raw and SmackDown will be well represented. The Shield is taking on the unholy alliance of Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, The Miz and Daniel Bryan will continue their super hot feud, and AJ Styles will defend his WWE Championship again against bitter rival Samoa Joe. SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair will write the next chapter in their ongoing drama, and Ronda Rousey will team with the Bella Twins in a six-woman tag match against the Riott Squad.

For the most part, though, these confrontations have taken a back seat during the promotion of the show to the Undertaker-Triple H match, which is being billed as the “Last Time Ever” — and while you can never say never in pro wrestling, it probably will be. If Super Show-Down was being held in the United States, WWE’s social media accounts, which it takes great pride in touting each week, would be aflame with a sizable percentage of the fanbase who would be upset at having the legends atop the card.

But like most things WWE does, there’s a method to its madness. Put simply, the company has never held a pay-per-view in Australia before, so it’s making up for lost time. Plenty of Aussie fans make the trip to the States for WrestleMania each year, but that’s not the same thing as bringing the spectacle to them, and because they never got to see Attitude Era stars like Undertaker and Triple H in their primes, you can consider this a bit of a “better late than never” apology.

The idea of overseas PPV cards isn’t completely new to WWE, as England has hosted a dozen of them, including two a year between 1999 and 2002. Yet even at the time, it wasn’t hard to find company officials talking up the logistical difficulties involved, and in particular the idea that the time difference wreaking havoc on the number of U.S. fans who would pay to watch the shows.

Things are different in 2018 since all pay-per-view events are included in the monthly subscription for the WWE Network, and at this point, most fans here are subscribers. Sure, it would be great if some people actually wake up in the middle of the night to enjoy it live in the U.S., and some diehards undoubtedly will. But WWE is making this mostly about the Australia audience, from the start time to the somewhat unorthodox top billing for the over the hill gang.

When WWE first announced the Greatest Royal Rumble for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia earlier this year, it raised some eyebrows (and caused some controversy, since no women were allowed to compete despite the big push for the women’s division in general in 2018). Once Super Show-Down was unveiled, it became clear that with attendance and TV ratings flat at home, WWE sees opportunity overseas that it can’t afford to pass up. As the ultimate proof, consider that there’s already been another event, WWE Crown Jewel, slated for Saudi Arabia in early November.

Next. Read more about Undertaker at Greatest Royal Rumble. dark

The common thread between Greatest Royal Rumble and Super Show-Down is the Undertaker. He hasn’t officially retired even here in America, but everyone who follows the business knows his days are numbered, and Saturday’s event will serve as another farewell tour stop in a place where many fans might be seeing him live and in person for the first time in his illustrious career. You can too if you’re okay with getting up before the sun does, and if you do, at least you know now why it’s happening this way.

WWE brings a heavy dose of nostalgia Down Under

By Nick Tylwalk | Oct 3, 2018

WWE has its reasons for bringing a card to Australia headlined by a match between two wrestlers who are a combined 102 years old.